Monkey Business

Mormons can be Buddhists too....._ Danny (Sons of Provo)


This week FABULOUS!  To start things off, the Espinoza family passed their baptismal interviews!  They are going to be baptized on the 24th of October and they are super excited.  The dad sadly decided to wait more time to see if he wants to get baptized or not.  It may be a little struggle though becuase they work and study 2 hours away and they daughter now has school on Saturdays.  It will all work out though.

The elders of the sector right next to ours had a baptism this week.  Their chapel for some reason does not have a baptismal font, so they come to our chapel for their baptisms.  We show up and the font is locked and the closet with all the baptismal clothing.  Our bishop happened to be in Ibarra (5 hours away) with the keys to the two doors.  So what do four elders to when there are no keys?  Turn into monKEYS.  I was chosen to climb up a ladder into the cieling to jump down inside the font to open it up.  It was super dirty and small up there, and I almost died jumping though the metal frame, but the font was filled, and the father-daughter pair was baptized :)  Really neat experience that I will never forget.  Just remember that missionaries will do ANYTHING and risk EVERYTHING to make sure a baptism happens.

We just go back from a zone activity where we played soccer and made burgers.  Me and another elder from Arizona made "Rodeo Bugers".  We fried onions and filled the meat with BBQ sauce and even more flavor explosions.  The Latinos were kinda weirded out, but us gringos got a little taste of home :) "BAM!" -Emeril Lagasse

Oh and I was able to give a talk this week in church.  Talked about love, and may or may not have edified a few members :)  Sometimes these things are necessary.

Hey, just remember that no matter what, things will all work out.  That is why this Gospel is so perfect.  We have the Atonement and repentance to make us who God wants us to become.  Lets trust Him.  I love this Gospel and know its true.  To proclaim it, we dont have to shout in every city bus that we see (We have had that all this week from some Evangelical church....super annoying).  Share the Gospel 
by EXAMPLE.

Have a great week and read your scriptures!

Elder Lomeli

Me and Elder Arrieta and out new haircuts :)

Amazing!....But No Cinnamon Rolls :(

Let me give  some advice to all you haters out there "GIVE BROTHER JOSEPH A BREAK!" - Neil L. Anderson (he did not say haters)

This conference was amazing!  It was litterally on a high....a spiritual one that is.  All the talks strengthened my faith and testimony that those men really are called of God.  They are His mouthpieces on earth.  My favorite talks were by D. Todd Christofferson and Neil L. Anderson.  Oh and I am too pumped for the three new aposltes.  My bracket wasnt a winner, but we as children of God were!  I am excited to hear from them and recieve their counsels.  

Right now I am in Quito renewing my visa.  Im sure that not many of you knew that I have been illegal here for about three months.  My visa isnt valid, but all that will get fixed tomorrow.  Cant wait to be legal! Yay!

This week has been full of weird foods and fun times.  We had a zone conference with President RIchardson where we talked about our personall appearance, how to sectorize better, and how to cook more healthy.  That meant that we spent an hour and a half with Hermana Richardson cooking some delicious food.  Best zone conference ever.  And on Wednesday, we went to the mamita and she gave us a huge plate of rice and beans.  To go with it, she gave us each a pitcher of tapioca pudding.  The only drawback was that it was the color, texture, and flavor of pepto bismol... I dont know what they put in the food here, but that one was a first and a last haha :)

The Espinoza family is doing very well.  Thank you all for your prayers on their behalf.  The dad is not wanting to be baptized yet, but still listens and reads the Book of Mormon.  We will keep working with them to make sure they can make these covenants with God.  We have also found lots of new investigators this week to keep us busy.  So good when people accept the message seriously.  We all should preach to feel happiness and joy.

I know that this church is true.  I know for sure that God knows the desires and needs of our hearts and will answer in His own time.  We need to be RELENTLESS in defending our faith.  Now more than ever we need to be strong in the Church.  Challenge accepted.

Have a great week!

Elder Lomeli

Conference gringo style

Pres. Monson fan club

Off To the Races

So Batman says to Spiderman, Hey wheres Uncle Ben? Spiderman responds, At the movies with your parents.......

Who won there? My vote is Batman everytime.

This week was a lot of running around!  On Tuesday me and Elder Arrieta had to be with our District Leader and run back and forth between the two sectors all day long.  I think that day we took maybe 10 taxis! And on top of that we ate two lunches and were able to help someone pass their baptismal interview! Yeah! He was for another sector, but still another person in the Kingdom of God right?

So a little more on Elder Arrieta.  He is from Lima Peru, so for sure I have yet another Peruvian comp :).  He has about 5 months here in the mission and loves to work work work.  I am his third comp so far.  He was struggling a bit due to the heat this week, but its ironic becuase it was suprisingly cold this week haha.  We get along pretty well and he is even willing to go running in the mornings! He got super sore the first day though haha.

We are working a lot with less active members and recent converts.  We had to do three divisions this week to be able to teach them all, and we were able to have 8/9 recent converts come to church, and 11 less actives!  But that meant that we were a little low on the investigators, but that will be our focus for this week dont worry!  The Espinoza family is progressing nicely for the 24th of October.  Pray for them becuase they are seeing a few dificulties right now and we cant visit them too often becuase of their work schedule. 

So, we are tired. We make up for it by eating encebollado everyday for breakfast :) Its just that good.  I will make it for all when I get home for sure!  I love this Gospel.  I know that Christ is my Savior and I am forever grateful for the Atonement.  Take some time and really think about all the things that Christ suffered for you.  Then do an introspection and think how we can really show thanks for that great sacrifice.  

Have a great week!  Conference will be great!  I say that the Apostles will be Callister, Rasband, and idk who else.

Ciao,
Elder Lomeli

A Kitten we named Chaulafán (fried rice in Ecuador)

Round 2....Fight!

Well here we are again. Yeah, but this time we´re seniors! And we´re gonna rule the school! -Rizzo (Grease)

This is totally nuts how fast this change passed by.  But time flys when youre having fun, and even faster when you are having fun in the service of the Lord for sure.  

So, this week was changes.  I will be staying here in Propicia.  My new companion that I dont know yet is Elder Arrieta who I think is from Peru of all places.  Only time will tell....or he will tell me when I ask.  He has got his work cut out for him because our sector is pretty big, and coming from Otavalo, the heat will kill him.

This last week was really cool.  There are lots of members in our ward that need visits and we had lots of really spiritual charlas sharing Alma 36.  Here Alma talks about accepting the will of the Lord in all things when the women and children were murdered.  This story gives us strength to know why bad things happen to the good people in our lives.  And the more trials we have, it just means that the Lord needs us to be even MORE strong than we were before.  If you havent read that chapter in a while, read it and answer this question: "Why doest God allow suffering to occur even though He loves us?"

Cristian is now a priest and wants us to help him prepare to bless the sacrament this Sunday!  He is so powerful and wants to progress in the Gospel.  He will hopefully have a calling soon and be able to baptize his son! Yeah baby!

Other than that this week was full of loud music, dancing in the street and one night a neighbor was watching the movie White Chicks but it was in english with spanish subtitles I suppose.  I was replaying the movie in my mind and laughing.  Good times.  No I didnt watch it dont worry :)

I love this Gospel and the joy it brings.  I am super happy to have this opportunity to be a missiomary and help others.  I know the family can be together forver.

Have a great week! Get pumped for Conference!

Elder Lomeli

Ya Mismo

Pues, no se que decirles de verdad. Howdy!

What a week!  We finished super exhausted physically.  We were able to have the baptism of Cristian!  It was super cool becuase his brother was able to perform the ordinance.  We even had Cristian wear a shirt and tie so he looked super sharp :)  It was a joyful day and lots of the members of his family were able to attend.  The Spirit was definitey there.

I celebrated my 1 year mark in style.  A $1 salchipapa and burning a tie to the hymn God be with you till we meet again.  Was sad to burn the tie, but we added a little bit of cleaning alcohol (no, no beer or anything, nice try though) and we had our own version of Stadium of Fire :)

So you all know that I was chubby before the mission.  No one told me, but the people here told me up front.  My comp is the same way so we have been running erryday.  We have even got to the point where a few young men and investigators are coming too.  I have lots weight not according to the eyes of man, but to the size of my pants.

We had a funny expericence this week during a lesson.  Since we cant enter a house without an adult male, we teach outside in the sun.  We were just at the part of the First vision then..... PLOP.  A dove did a number on Elder Apaza, and that numbre was TWO! Hahahahaha we had to go home so he could shower becuase it was all over his shirt and backpack.

Other than that, this week was pretty normal.  Eating rice for every meal, BUT, I was trained from an early age to eat it (Thanks Dad :)).  We walk in the heat, people whistle at us, and the people ONLY listen to Bruno Mars.  Mustve heard the same 5 songs 30+ times this week haha.  Oh and I just got done getting my haircut at the most gross, hairy, and loud place becuase it was the cheapest because we are chiros (broke).  If you love to dance, just come to Esmeraldas becuase every single person has a huge speaker outside with the music up all the way.  Pretty sick parties here every Sunday night in the streets :)

I love the missionary work.  I love this church.  I know that is true and that God answers our prayers.  He loves us and gives us trials to help us grow.

Have a good week ¿DIGA?

Elder Lomeli

Me and Elder Apaza at the beach

Cristian at his baptism!

Milestone

Hey. Hey yo. Hey yo whats up wit dat funky piano. Gimme a track.....Yeah.

I was born in the church, jus like mah daddy was y`all......You all know the rest.

This week I have hit a big moment in the mission. I never thought I would get here.  There were times of joy and times of sorrow and frustration.  But now that I`m here, I will keep chugging along.  Yes, you guessed it, I am findally shaving everyday!  Yay lets throw a party!  Oh and I may or may not be completing a year this week, but whose counting :)

This week has been a good one fo sho.  We are working with Cristian and he passed his baptismal interview and will be baptized this Saturday!  We are super pumped and are planning the service so that tons of people can come to support him!  We also have a the family Espinoza who has a baptismal date for the 24th of October.  There names are Irene and Nayla.  Its a mother-daughter ho-down and they want to be baptized on the bday of the mom, Irene.  Nayla is 10.  They are all going to be super POWERFUL converts.

We were also super pumped to have 9 investigators and 12 less active members come back to church!  One investigator, Jose, asked me if the people that were there for the first time could bear their testimony.  I responded yes and he jumped right up and sat on the stand and waited his turn.  I look at Elder Apaza and we were full of butterflies and prayers that he would do good.  He is a big black guy and wore aviator glasses all during church, so he looked pretty thuggish but with style.  Then Jose gets to the pulpit and gives a pretty decent testimony!  He finishes  and says "AMEN TO JESUS!", and walked off with a fist in the air. It was too funny! hahahahahaha

I was also able to go on divisions with Elder Separovic for a day in my sector.  He is from Chile but his last name is from Croatia.  We had three lunches and two were BBQ. YUM!

Im out of time but Im glad all is well and BYU beat Nebraska.  Utah fans be ashamed forever more.

Have a great week!

Elder Lomeli

Discern, Dont Decide

Buenas tardes mis amigos y familiares,

Well, this week was strange but it passed by very quickly.  With all the interviews and meetings that we had to catch up on this week flew.  We have been on the go and havent caught up with our sleep so Elder Apaza and I both have a cold :(

Lets start with the good news!  Hans got baptized!  We werent able to announce the baptism on Sunday, so we were running around all week trying to invite people to the baptism.  Not many people showed up but it was a great experience.  The baptism was supposed to start at 3:30 but to Ecuadorians that means 4:15.  Hans was also the LAST person to show up for his own baptism haha.  When I asked him how he felt after the baptism, he replied: "Well Elder, when a person gets baptized......they feel good."  It was funny.  The next day in the confirmation, they announced that we were gonna confirm him.  We look around and Hans is NOWHERE to be found!  We both jumped up and starting looking around the chapel like maniacs.  We found him quick though and it all turned out well.  And just so happens that an Area Seventy was there to see the whole thing.

We are also working with Cristian.  He changed his baptismal date for the 12th instead of the 19th of September.  He just needs to finish the lessons and he is golden!  He even has the goal to baptize his son who is 9!  To keep the relationship with him and us good, we go running with him every other morning.  We thought it was gonna be easy, but after day two, we could barely walk.  We only ran like 4 miles and it killed us.  Dont even ask how much it hurt to kneel to pray.

We were also privileged to have that Seventy come. Elder Calderón is an Eucadorian native, but is in one of the lower Quorums of the Seventy.  He got up in his sacrament talk and there was a group of women talking in the back.  He stopped his talk and totally chewed them out for talking!  IT WAS SO FUNNY!  Only a Seventy would do that. 

Elder Calerdón also talked a lot about being self reliant and the importance of families.  He said that being self reliant frees us to be able to serve in a better way.  We cannot enter the kingdom of God without being self reliant.  He also counseled us to live to satisfy our NEEDS, and not our pointless desires.  One last thing he said was that there are no "gifts" in this church.  Every blessing is EARNED is some way or another.  That last quote is what impacted me the most.  Let us try to do everything in our power to recognize that our blessings are always earned by our righteousness.

My companion and I are doing well.  We are with a cold and sore from running but we are happy.  We laugh tons.  He has helped me a lot to not judge people too quickly.  He says that we need to discern their needs and not assume them.  There is sometimes a legit reason as to why a person doest fulfill with an invitation we extend.  So,.....DONT JUDGE QUICKLY!

I love this Gospel and I hope that we can all appreciate it tons everyday! Have a great week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON SUNDAY MOM!  I LOVE YOU AND ALL YOU DO!

Elder Lomeli

Hans´s Baptism

Hans and his mom